TriCity: Tourist hotspot overlooked by businesspeople
This number, however, excludes small family-run hostels, which are very active during the summer holiday season.
The hotel market in this region is represented by 854 three star hotel rooms and only 421 in the four star bracket. The rest of the market (19 percent) is represented by two star hotels.
A popular tourist spot, the TriCity's occupancy rates during the summer can reach between 65 and 75 percent. However, in contrast to other Polish cities, those rates drop significanty at the end of the summer season. The average figure in 2003, however, was ten percent higher than in 2000. One reason for these shifts has been the lack of a promotional campaign aimed at getting foreign businesspeople to take an interest in the area. The Gdańsk local authority has, however, embarked on a nationwide advertising campaign to promote the city as being open to new ideas. Though it is still too early to judge the results of this endeavor, the general trend remains that hotel investors tend to overlook TriCity in preference to other regional cities such as Wrocław or Poznań, because of what they cite as the northern area's lack of potential for generating stable income.
The dearth of new modern hotels is reflected in the fact that most of the hospitality in the TriCity comprises of stock that was built in the late 1970s, and although some of the hotels have been renovated recently, they are still not always to the taste of demanding foreign guests. A typical example here is the Hotel Hevelius: objectively considered a three star hotel, it is promoted by its owners as being four star simply because of its beach-side location.
Sopot's most famous hotel is the Grand Hotel, whose famous past guests include Charles de Gaulle and Adolf Hitler. The history of this hotel is inextricably linked to the development of the TriCity and goes back to 1927, when the hotel first opened to guests. Despite its age, it is still considered one of the town's premier buildings.
Most of the three and four star hotels in Sopot were built in the mid-1990s with the purpose of attracting foreign tourists from Scandinavia. As in many other seaside towns, however, they are often overpriced.
According to Arkadiusz Nowosad, a real estate and hotel market analyst, competition among hoteliers in TriCity is not likely to increase in the near future, as there are no new hotels being constructed at the moment, and those locally-inspired developments that are in the offing can't be considered major players. Occupancy rates are likely to increase by five to seven percent every year, however, and that may make the Tricity more of a draw for developers in the two star segment, which has recently attracted new investment. A similar opinion is shared by Marcin Zdunek from the Hotel Dal in Gdansk, who believes that the hotel market in the region will remain mainly tourist-driven with good prospects for future development, as, in the long run, higher standards of living in Poland as a whole will boost the number of hotel guests. This is unlikely to occur for another five to seven years, however.
The hotel market in this region is represented by 854 three star hotel rooms and only 421 in the four star bracket. The rest of the market (19 percent) is represented by two star hotels.
A popular tourist spot, the TriCity's occupancy rates during the summer can reach between 65 and 75 percent. However, in contrast to other Polish cities, those rates drop significanty at the end of the summer season. The average figure in 2003, however, was ten percent higher than in 2000. One reason for these shifts has been the lack of a promotional campaign aimed at getting foreign businesspeople to take an interest in the area. The Gdańsk local authority has, however, embarked on a nationwide advertising campaign to promote the city as being open to new ideas. Though it is still too early to judge the results of this endeavor, the general trend remains that hotel investors tend to overlook TriCity in preference to other regional cities such as Wrocław or Poznań, because of what they cite as the northern area's lack of potential for generating stable income.
The dearth of new modern hotels is reflected in the fact that most of the hospitality in the TriCity comprises of stock that was built in the late 1970s, and although some of the hotels have been renovated recently, they are still not always to the taste of demanding foreign guests. A typical example here is the Hotel Hevelius: objectively considered a three star hotel, it is promoted by its owners as being four star simply because of its beach-side location.
Sopot's most famous hotel is the Grand Hotel, whose famous past guests include Charles de Gaulle and Adolf Hitler. The history of this hotel is inextricably linked to the development of the TriCity and goes back to 1927, when the hotel first opened to guests. Despite its age, it is still considered one of the town's premier buildings.
Most of the three and four star hotels in Sopot were built in the mid-1990s with the purpose of attracting foreign tourists from Scandinavia. As in many other seaside towns, however, they are often overpriced.
According to Arkadiusz Nowosad, a real estate and hotel market analyst, competition among hoteliers in TriCity is not likely to increase in the near future, as there are no new hotels being constructed at the moment, and those locally-inspired developments that are in the offing can't be considered major players. Occupancy rates are likely to increase by five to seven percent every year, however, and that may make the Tricity more of a draw for developers in the two star segment, which has recently attracted new investment. A similar opinion is shared by Marcin Zdunek from the Hotel Dal in Gdansk, who believes that the hotel market in the region will remain mainly tourist-driven with good prospects for future development, as, in the long run, higher standards of living in Poland as a whole will boost the number of hotel guests. This is unlikely to occur for another five to seven years, however.
